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By Alistair Smout
LONDON (Reuters) – Coronavirus vaccine approvals brought comfort and joy to many this Christmas, but failed to stop further restrictions on travel and gatherings amid COVID cases -19 is increasing globally, and deaths in the United States topped 3,000 for a third day in a row.
Scientists and government leaders have hailed the vaccines as a huge success in attacking the pandemic, but only once they are administered, a process likely to take months, even in the richest countries of the world.
More than 73.68 million people are believed to have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide and 1,655,424 have died, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States leading the number of deaths and infections.
A fast-spreading American wave is pushing hospitals to the brink, weeks after millions of people took to the air and the roads for the Thanksgiving holiday, with admissions reaching record highs for a 19th consecutive day.
Today, many countries are bracing for the Christmas rush, and Hans Kluge, director of the World Health Organization’s European regional office, has said traveling is not worth the risk.
“There remains a difference between what you are allowed to do by your authorities and what you should do,” he said in a statement. “The safest thing at the moment is to stay home.”
Travel plans for thousands of Australians were thrown into chaos when states and territories imposed border restrictions after 28 cases of COVID-19 were detected in Sydney.
Large areas of England will be added to the ‘very high alert’ COVID-19 category this weekend, putting residents under the strictest curbs even as the government tries to defend a plan to ease borders for five days at Christmas.
“It doesn’t look like the tier system is holding back the epidemic wave, unfortunately,” John Edmunds, a member of the government’s science advisory group for emergencies, told Sky News.
“I think we’re going to have to look at those measures and maybe tighten them up.”
South Korea, hailed around the world for handling the pandemic in its early stages, reported 1,062 new cases on Friday, its second-highest daily tally on record, as the government worried about tighter restrictions.
Austrians abroad were heading home early for Christmas before new quarantine rules arrived on Saturday. The country is entering a third lockdown after Christmas, the national news agency APA reported on Friday.
‘NO SAFE PLACE’
Swiss Health Minister Alain Berset will ask cabinet colleagues to close restaurants for a month on Friday, two newspapers reported.
The Spanish capital of Madrid, one of Europe’s worst COVID-19 hotspots at the start of the pandemic, has gradually reduced its spread without closing any clubs or shops.
But with an average notification rate of 244 cases per 100,000 population over the past 14 days, the region has returned to levels seen before the start of the second wave.
Poland could introduce even tighter restrictions, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in an interview published Friday, a day after the government announced that a “national quarantine” would begin after Christmas.
Lithuanian police were planning to set up roadblocks to enforce a lockdown.
“There is no safe place in Lithuania,” Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte told reporters last week.
As government leaders around the world address their countries on how to tackle the pandemic, US President Donald Trump has remained largely silent with critics accusing him of abdicating his responsibilities as cases soar .
US Vice President Mike Pence received his vaccine live on television on Friday, seeking to build public support for the vaccinations after US deaths from the coronavirus surpassed 3,000 for a third day in a row.[L1N2IY0WG]
French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, prompting a tracking and tracing effort across Europe following his numerous meetings with EU heads of government.
EU states will begin COVID-19 vaccinations on December 27 as Europe tries to catch up with Britain and the United States after what some have criticized as a slow approval process for the EU for vaccines.
The European Union is waiting for the European Medicines Agency to approve a vaccine from Pfizer Inc and its German partner BioNTech SE. The EMA is expected to make an announcement on December 21.
The United States Food and Drug Administration will work “quickly” on emergency approval of Moderna Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said Thursday.
A panel of external FDA advisers has overwhelmingly approved emergency use of the vaccine, providing virtually a second option of protection.
Last week, the same panel backed the Pfizer vaccine, leading to emergency use clearance from the FDA a day later.
(Reporting from Reuters offices worldwide; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Jon Boyle, William Maclean)
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